Journal Entries on Huckleberry Finn Essay

T.S. Elliot said, "Huck is alone: there is no more solitary figure in fiction. The fact that he has a father only emphasizes its loneliness; and he views his father with a terrifying detachment" (329). Most parents like to see their children excel in life and become productive members of society, but Pap is thinking only about himself. Instead of wishing the best for his son, he is angry because he is becoming a better person than his father. This man would be an awful influence on any child, and should be kept away from Huck.

At the beginning of the novel, Miss Watson, Miss Douglas’s sister, tried to teach Huck the Bible and to raise him as a Christian. However, Huck vehemently refused this notion and ironically even said that he would rather be in hell than learn about Christianity. He chose to follow his own rules, not the ones that were just taught to

I feel that there was much character development in these certain chapters. One of the most meaningful quotes in this section in the novel occurs at the end of chapter 23, when Huck and Jim have their conversation. Huck is clever enough to assume what Jim is upset about, displaying Huck’s ability to be in touch with emotions. The quote reads, “I knowed what it was about. He was thinking about his wife and his children, away up yonder, and he was low and homesick; because he hadn’t ever been away from home before in his life; and I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks does for their’n” (Pg. 156).This quote also causes me to realize how much Huck truly develops as a character throughout the novel because I don't believe he would say something like this before. Although the small size of the quote, it carries much meaning, along with displaying Huck’s consideration for a friend like Jim. It also demonstrates Huck’s emotional side with is not shown very much in the novel. Huck knows more than what it seems like he would, and he does not fail to prove that. I think that a life of abuse and heartbreak caused for him to bottle up his feelings and keep them hidden, but like everyone else, he still has feelings. This quote also displays the certain connection that Jim and Huck have between each other, the reason being they had become so close. In my personal opinion, all I think he wants is someone to take care

Even though Pap is Huck’s biological father, he is everything a father shouldn’t be. For example, he constantly leaves Huck home alone, confined in his cabin for a long period of time. "Every little while he locked me in and went down to the store, three miles, to the ferry, and traded fish and game for wiskey and fetched it home and got drunk and had a good time, and licked me."(Twain 35) This quote not only shows that Huck was left on his own, it also shows that Pap is not a suitable father because of his drinking problem, and also his abusive behavior. His drinking problem is not only a waste of money, but it is a dangerous addiction not only for Pap’s health, but for Huck’s. "He chased me round and round the place with a clasp knife, calling me the Angel of Death, and saying he would kill me, and then I couldent come for him no more. I begged, and told him I was only Huck; but he laughed such a screechy laugh, and roared and cussed , and kept on chasing me up." (39) This quote shows that during one of his hallucinations, he almost kills Huck. Alcohol

Huck absolutely hated how they are forcing him to follow a bunch of rules. The Widow Douglas teaches Huck the Bible, which he doesn 't mind but he doesn 't like how she 's forcing it on him. One of the rules was Huck was not aloud to smoke. Miss Watson told Huck that he had to get an education. She tried to teach him how to spell but he had no interest. She also gave him lectures on good behavior because she said that 's how he would go to heaven. He told her he didn 't believe that, he thought hell sounded more fun than heaven, so he 'd rather go to hell instead. Even though he doesn 't like either one of the women, he does like Widow Douglas more than Miss Watson. She gave him encouragement even though she had strict rules. And she took care of him, like buying him clothes even though he didn’t want them. Huck respects Widow Douglas because she gives him good advice and is not so harsh on him about certain things. Huck ran away, and they sent Tom to search for him. Tom convinced him to come home, but he still complained about having to wear new clothes and eat only when the bell rang for dinner. He didn 't like their rules because he wasn 't used to it growing up with his Pap. One of the examples is that his Pap forbid him from going to school, yet they want him to be

Huck has had enough with their failed relationship, deciding he can handle such an atrocity, he decides he will run away from his monster of an alcoholic father. Pap will never be able to have a relationship with his father, because he was probably drunk, got into an argument and was shot and killed. Alcoholic parents’ actions often hinder the child’s ability to tell what is right from wrong.

One night his father breaks into his room at the Widow’s house and insults Huck repeatedly. He bullies Huck for looking nice and learning how to read. Huck’s father Pap uses Huck’s supposed wealth as an excuse to take his son back. Pap takes advantage of his son Huck by taking him back into his care to receive the money belonging to Huck. All Pap seems to care about is the money he could receive. When Pap takes Huck to his cabin Huck is physically abused. At one point Pap chases Huck around threatening to kill him. Huck lives in constant fear of his father and his father's drinking because of the violent way he’s treated by his only family

Mark Twain’s protagonist, Huck, in his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, removes himself of white society’s, symbolized by Widow Douglas home, because he doesn’t believe in what Widow Douglas beliefs in and he does not want to change, so he rather be civilized. In the novel, Huck utter, “When you got tpt the table you couldn’t go right to eating, but you had to wait for the Widow to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals” (para 3). This example reveals that Watson bows her head and prays every times she eats, but Huck feels that he shouldn’t pray before he eats because no one was there when he was getting beaten by his dad. Therefore, it is evidence that he does not believe in anything because no one was there to save him from getting beat and nothing happened to Huck’s father. Quote is important because Huck will be defiant towards white society’s capricious rules because no one was there to stop the abuse from happening. According to Huck, “I felt so lonesome. I most wished I was dead” (para

Huck’s father is a drunken man who is abusive and forces Huck to live with him. The judge took his custody rights away and Huck was to live with Ms. Watson. His father comes back in the beginning of the novel and take Huck. Huck’s dad does not like the government. He says, “Call this a govment! Why, just look at and see what it’s like. Here’s the law a standing ready to take a man’s son away from him - a man’s own son, which he has had all the trouble and all the aniety and all the expense of raising.” Pap doesn’t take responsibility of Huck. He goes out and spends every dime he has on alcohol. He does not put Huck first. He in no way knows how to raise Huck, therefore Huck is on his own when it comes to growing up, and providing for himself.

This innocence allows Twain to satirize religious sentimentality and superficiality with abandon. Miss Watson and Widow Douglas, Huck's unofficial guardians who try to "sivilize" him, teach Huck the concept of Christianity. The women emphasis prayer and Providence. Huck recalls, "She told me to pray every day, and whatever I asked for I would get it" (10). The literal minded young boy believes that he would receive anything he desires if he prays for it. This is made apparent when Huck states, "I tried for the hooks three or four times, but somehow I couldn't make it work" (11). Further attempts by the two women to explain prayer only leads to more confusion, making Twain's point that religious practices, in this case prayer, do not always make sense. To further this point, Twain includes Huck's confusion over Providence. Each of the women explains the concept of Providence differently, actually contradicting one another. Huck explains what he is taught by saying, "I judged I could see that there was two Providences." Thus, Twain criticizes religious philosophy by creating a scenario whereby the two women, and subsequently Huck, have two juxtapose interpretations of a religious concept. Twain conveys his message of how ridiculous it is for two or more people to have different interpretations of the same religious concept and still claim to practice the same

Huck's father is absent until he finds out that Huck has found some money.  Pap is an outcast full of hate for blacks and pretty much for all of society.  Huck, as a product of his society, speaks the language of his society.  By choosing as his point-of-view a young boy from the slave south, Twain is able to present and challenge the values and assumptions of this time.  Among the assumptions and values of the time that the reader encounters in the book are the strict definitions pertaining to Huck's world and the people who inhabit it:

In chapter six, Pap continues to harass Judge Thatcher for Huck’s fortune, and thrash’s Huck for not stopping school as he had demanded. Huck goes to school nevertheless, with even more passion and desire than ever before, to spite Pap. The law trial Pap provoked proceeds rather slowly, so, Huck borrows two or three dollars from Judge Thatcher every week to give to Pap, in order to resist a beating. Huck is truly subservient to his father. Even when he is no longer in possession of his fortunes, he is forced to give a portion of his money to his father. Clearly, Pap is not fit to parent Huck - he is constantly drunk, being placed in jail, and shows no responsibility as an adult. When Pap begins to linger around the Widow’s estate too often,

Child abuse had a great on effect Huck’s whether if it had to do with where he is living or a decision he has made. Huck has been abused for most if not all of his life by his father, Pap. Huck stated, “I used to be scared of him all the time, he tanned me so much” (17). This quote shows how Huck had to deal with Pap’s abuse before and could not help himself. It shows that Pap has poor ethics shown by beating his child simply because he can. This is an immoral act on Pap’s part because he believes he can control Huck’s life including his life choices and his possessions. Pap says, “I’ll take you down a peg, before I'm done with you” (17). Pap continues to torment and threaten Huck even though he has not been around of the most recent parts of Huck’s life. Pap’s ideologies have not changed since Huck was younger. Pap’s ideals consist of being able to do what he wants when he wants. This was apparent when he tries to threaten Huck and put himself above Huck. In the 1800s community leaders felt responsible for helping orphaned or abandoned

“Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.” (Twain, ix) Mark Twain opens his book with a personal notice, abstract from the storyline, to discourage the reader from looking for depth in his words. This severe yet humorous personal caution is written as such almost to dissuade his readers from having any high expectations. The language in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is completely “American” beyond the need for perfect grammar. “Mark Twain’s novel, of course, is widely considered to be a definitively American literary text.” (Robert Jackson,

While Pap may have been Huck’s father by blood, he did none of the things that would even remotely make him a “real” father. From Pap, Huck learned nothing but about how immoral and vicious humans can be. Every time Pap is drunk, he terrorizes Huck, so much to the point that Pap’s drunkenness